Archive Pages Design$type=blogging

UCL Recap: Aguero Hits Hatrick; Morata Rescues Madrid, Foxes Win

Champions
League holders Real Madrid earned a last-gasp victory over Sporting Lisbon in
their opening Group F match at the Bernabeu thanks to late goals from Cristiano
Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata.

Bruno Cesar's
goal in the 47th minute gave the visitors the lead over the defending
champions, but an 89th minute free kick from Ronaldo and a stoppage time header
from Morata secured the late win.

Bruno Cesar
fired the Portuguese side to a stunning lead two minutes into the second half,
raising the visitors' hopes for a famous result against the 11-time UCL
champions.

Brian Ruiz's
through ball from just outside of the box deflected directly into the path of
the Brazilian, who shaped his left-footed shot around a helpless Kiko Casilla
and into the net.

But Ronaldo,
playing against his former team, would not let Real die, and saved Los Blancos'
blushes in the 89th minute with a curler of his own.

From a free
kick, the Portugal captain expertly fired around the wall and into the top
corner, getting a touch from outstretched goalkeeper Rui Patrício's left hand
before going in.

With the
point in hand, Real pushed for more, and were rewarded deep into stoppage time
when Morata raced onto the end of James Rodríguez's perfect cross and
powerfully headed home.

Manchester City 4-0 Monchengladbach

Sergio Aguero returned from his domestic football
ban to score a hat-trick as Man City
beat Monchengladbach 4-0 at the
Etihad Stadium.

Kelechi Iheanacho also got on the scoresheet late on as
City made up for lost time after torrential rain washed out the first attempt
to play the fixture at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

Aguero, who
is currently suspended from domestic action, opened the scoring after nine
minutes, added a second from the penalty spot and completed his treble after 77
minutes before Iheanacho added a fourth.

It was
another highly convincing performance by City, who did not even seem to get
into top gear as they cruised to a seventh successive win under Pep Guardiola.

City, much
like last weekend’s derby against Manchester United, were superb in the first
half, with their movement quick and passing crisp and this time maintained
their domination for longer.

Club Brugge 0-3 Leicester City

Riyad Mahrez scored twice as Leicester made the
Champions League look easy with a debut 3-0 away win over Belgian side Club Brugge.

Boss Claudio
Ranieri had warned against expecting another fairytale but it was dream night
in Belgium after Leicester scored twice inside the first half an hour.

Marc
Albrighton netted the Foxes’ first-ever Champions League goal, and first in
Europe since 2000, before Riyad Mahrez crashed in a brilliant free-kick.

Mahrez made
it 3-0 with a second-half penalty with Leicester, who dominated at the Jan
Breydel Stadium, top of Group G after Porto and Copenhagen drew 1-1.

Burnley will
give the Foxes a sterner test than abject Brugge when they return to the
Premier League on Saturday and Leicester must learn to cope with the demands of
the league and European football.

Tottenham 1-2 Monaco

Tottenham
Hostpur slipped to a disappointing defeat in their debut Wembley Champions
League match as they were beaten 2-1 by Monaco.

The French
outfit rocked the North Londoners as they found themselves two goals up with
just over 30 minutes gone courtesy of Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar.

Toby
Alderweireld scored just before the break to give Mauricio Pochettino’s men
hope, but they failed to get the decisive equalising goal.

Any concerns
about the atmosphere in an unfamiliar setting were quickly dismissed as Spurs
came out to a sea of white shirts, roaring them on in what was their first
outing at Europe’s top table since 2011.